Objections to plans by Uisce Éireann to extract over 300 million litres of water a day from the River Shannon to the east of the country, have been lodged by communities in the mid west opposed to the project.
Uisce Éireann applied in December for planning permission for the largest water project in Irish history.
It proposes constructing a 170km steel pipeline that will pump drinking water from the River Shannon, at the Parteen Basin below Lough Derg, to the Midlands, Eastern and Greater Dublin area.
The water utility proposes to abstract a maximum of 2% of the average river flow. The estimated cost of the underground pipe is €4.6 billion, but could…